Rush Limbaugh: Acosta Was Probably Trying to Get Kicked out of White House

Acosta, Acosta, Acosta. That name was ringing far and wide across the news media Thursday after a fiery confrontation between the CNN reporter and President Trump resulted in Jim Acosta’s White House press pass being suspended.

And that may be exactly what he intended, Rush Limbaugh said.

The conservative radio talk show host was referring to an incident at Trump’s White House press conference on Wednesday when Acosta opened his questions to the president by acting more like a prosecutor than a reporter. After Trump finished answer his questions, Acosta refused to give up the microphone so the next reporter could have a turn, and he even pushed away a female intern who tried to collect it from him.

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Acosta finally gave up the microphone but continued to yell at the president as another reporter tried to speak. His White House pass was revoked later in the day.

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Rush pointed out on Thursday that the mainstream media frequently harps on Trump for not exercising enough presidential decorum, yet Acosta was “the epitome, the definition of rude. It was the definition disrespectful. It was the definition of the absence of decorum. It was the definition of provocation.”

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He then said, “I think Acosta has been angling to get kicked out of the press corps for a while now. I’ve got the audio sound bite to prove it.”

“I think people at CNN have been angling for exactly what happened yesterday,” he continued. “I don’t think there’s any question about it. To be that rude, to have that lack of manners, to be that disrespectful had to be done on purpose. And even if you hate Trump and dislike Trump, you don’t have to behave the way Acosta did.”

Referring to journalists like CNN as “protesters with credentials,” Rush played a clip from his show in July after CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins was barred from the White House for her behavior.

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“I actually think, folks, I think CNN and all the rest of them, I think they’ve actually wanted to get a White House reporter kicked off the detail,” Rush said at the time. “I think they’ve been angling for it. I think it’s a great story for ’em. I think they’ve been trying to get kicked out.”

“I think Jim Acosta has been trying to get kicked out,” he predicted back then. “I think they’ve been trying to behave in such a way as to get kicked out so they would have that story and be able to run with that story.”